Salem Planning Board to discuss storage facility proposal

SALEM — The Planning Board is continuing a public hearing tonight on a proposed outdoor storage facility at 21 Northwestern Drive owned by Dennessen Industrial.

The building would be behind a large warehouse and would include four fenced-in storage areas for use mainly by contractors and landscapers, according to Mark Gross of MHF Design.

.At the initial public hearing last month, board members had questions about what materials would be stored on the property, as well as some concerns about noise associated with construction vehicles on the property...Gross said there would be no hazardous materials stored on the property. He also said the project would meet the 100-foot buffer zone required in the industrial zone.

Although the zoning ordinance does not speak specifically to outside storage yards, assistant Town Manager Leon Goodwin’s interpretation is that they are allowed in the zone...Planning Board Chairman Robert Campbell said he would also like to see some kind of drawing or outline of any future paving at the site, as well as the extent of any potential future development of the site shown on the plan...Gross said he wouldn’t have a problem providing that to the board. He added that any future paving of the site would likely be only in the storage areas and not the road between them, which would be a crushed gravel road...Town Planning Director Ross Moldoff said there are still some minor engineering details that need to be addressed before the Planning Board can potentially approve the project at tonight’s hearing.

The Planning Board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. in the Knightly Meeting Room at Town Hall...